Get Me Out (2/3)

Writers: Estelle
Date Posted: 24th June 2019
Series: The Great Bandit Trial

Characters: R'fal, Terren
Description: R'fal speaks with his father before he's transported to the mine
Location: Emerald Falls Hold
Date: month 10, day 24 of Turn 9
Notes: Mentioned: Corowal

R'fal was brought to wait in a small, windowless room in the barracks,
furnished only with two chairs and a table. The air had a faint chill
after the sun-baked outdoors, as if the heat never penetrated the heavy
stone walls. His imagination painted scenes of trembling prisoners being
interrogated, by men like the grim-faced guard who'd escorted him or the
big captain he'd seen at the trial.

The door rattled and he looked up swiftly to see the first guard and
another man with his father between them. Terren looked haggard and
pale, the prison garb he'd been given hanging loosely on him, though he
was clean and otherwise apparently healthy. His eyes welled up as he
recognised his son.

"R'fal!" He reached out to his son, the chains at his wrists clinking.
"You came to see me."

"Of course I did, Da." The young rider held his father in an awkward
embrace for a moment. "Ma is coming too. She's just going to the
Harper Hall first, about the appeal..."

"An appeal?"

"Yes, for the cothold, so Kerril can inherit..."

The light went out of his father's eyes as quickly as it had come. "But
what about me? The trial was a travesty of justice. I was convicted on
the lies of a thief. I didn't do anything!" He glanced back at the
guards with a curl of his lip.

The older guard snorted. "We'll leave you to it. You've half a
candlemark." He backed out of the room, followed by his companion, and
shortly afterwards they heard a key turning in a lock.

"I know, Da." R'fal pushed down his unease at being locked in, where
Marlath couldn't get to him. He took a seat opposite his father at the
table. "But Ma says it's best. There's no new evidence, and it's only
six months. It'll go by quickly, you'll see."

"Only six months?" Terren stared at him, incredulous. "Six months in the
mines of Black Rock Hold!"

"But Da, I don't know what else we can..."

"You have no idea what you're talking about," Terren said urgently,
leaning across the table. "I can't go there. They treat people like
beasts. Starved animals, chipping away at rock in the dark. People die."

The young man shook his head, horror dawning on his face. "No, Da! Lord
Corowal would never send anyone to a place like that."

"You've always been sheltered, R'fal." Terren said darkly. He'd heard
enough rumours and talk from the other bandits - and the taunts of the
guards - to get an idea, and it suited his purpose that R'fal should
know the worst of it, too. "You don't know what the world is like. I
thought we'd be safe, living in the cothold, far from Emerald Falls. But
even there, your past can catch up with you."

"Then - that box, you buried." He faltered, uncertain. "Did you really
leave messages in it?"

"I did." Terren lowered his voice, mindful of the guards outside. "It's
true, I did help those men. But you don't know why."

"Da, I - you don't have to..."

"They said they would hurt my family if I didn't. Your mother, your
little sister and brother." His eyes glistened with unshed tears. "What
else could I do? You weren't there."

The words hit R'fal like the shocking cold of /between/. He stared
at the chained man. "Da! Why didn't you tell someone? Why didn't you
say, at the trial?"

"Who would have believed me?" Iron links rattled as Terren reached out
to put a hand on his son's arm. "I was locked up in a cell with the
gang. Still am. The guards don't care what we do to each other. A
prisoner gets beaten to death by his cellmates, it's one less mouth to
feed. My life wouldn't have been worth a speck of dust if they knew I
was informing on them."

"But this is new evidence!" R'fal half-stood. "I'll tell the Lord
Holder. We can ask for another hearing."

"It wouldn't do any good." Terren's shoulders slumped and he rested his
head in his hands. "I did what I had to do to keep my family safe. I
swear I didn't know what they were doing, that they would have drowned
those riverboat people. But the Hold would argue it was still a crime."

"But it's not just! They can't...they have to..." His heart raced, and
in his mind his father's words echoed, round and around.

**You weren't there. You weren't there.**

It was true. He hadn't been. He'd gone to the Weyr, against his father's
wishes. R'fal remembered the fear in Terren's eyes when the Search
dragons chose him. Had that been why? Had he been afraid of being left
alone, without his son's support? Guilt and remorse coiled inside him
like a snake, its sour poison seeping through him until he thought he'd
be sick. If only he'd chosen differently. If he'd thought of his family,
not his dream of seeing the Weyr.

"We have to do something," he said, desperately. "You can't go to the
mines. Not now."

"What choice do we have? You said it yourself. Only six months," Terren
said darkly, bitterly. Then he looked up, his voice dropping to a hoarse
whisper.

"Unless. You could help me."

"Yes, I could speak to Lord Corowal, ask for mercy..."

"No. You're a dragonrider. You and your brown can get to the mining hold
and away again in an instant." Sweat beaded on Terren's forehead. "Do
you understand? You could get me out."

Last updated on the June 24th 2019

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